Systems and methods for acquiring, categorizing and delivering media in interactive media guidance applications

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods are discussed for providing guidance for Internet-delivered media. In some embodiments, information on available media on the Internet is gathered. The information is associated with existing media guidance data. The associations enable a media guidance application to identify relevant online media and to display listings in a user-friendly way. A user interface for an online media guidance application is also provided. The user interface allows a user to narrow down the large amount of Internet-delivered media in a systematic way according to criteria that interests a user.

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No.60/849,988, filed Oct. 6, 2006, the disclosure of which is herebyincorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates generally to media guidance applications, and inparticular, to providing guidance for media obtained from the Internet.

The Internet is an increasingly popular resource for obtainingentertainment media and information. There are an incredible number ofsources on the Internet that provide various types of media, such asdownloadable television episodes and movies, or streaming televisionpreviews and movie trailers. Furthermore, nearly all of the media andrelated information on the Internet is available on demand. Therefore,users may be confident that media of interest is always available.

The abundance of online media and media providers, however, also createsdifficulty in terms of locating media of interest. To locate particularonline media content without guidance, a user may need to know asignificant amount of information about the media. For example, if auser wants to find media related to a particular episode of a televisionshow, the user may need to go directly to the media provider, which inthis case is the website of the television network. Then, the user mayneed to know the original air date of the episode or the title of theepisode in order to effectively locate media on the network website. Notonly is this process inconvenient for the user, it provides no help forthose who are not searching for a particular media. Thus, guidance forInternet-delivered media content is necessary to enable or aid a user toeasily and effectively locate media of interest.

Some forms of guidance for media content provided on the Internet arealready available. Many guidance applications for online media arelimited to keyword searching and providing listings of featured media.Neither of these techniques provide effective or systematic means fornarrowing down the extremely large amount of media that is available onthe Internet. Thus, users of existing guidance applications are oftenbombarded with an overabundance of listings, many of which may beuninteresting or irrelevant. Therefore, there is a need for a guidanceapplication that not only provides keyword searching and displaysfeatured online media, but also provides a systematic method fornarrowing down the available online media to a reasonably small set ofmedia that interests the user.

The media listings generated by existing guidance applications are oftennot conducive for browsing. Video searches may yield results that arecluttered, unorganized, difficult to navigate, or unfocused. Differenttypes of videos may be presented in similar formats, making themvirtually indistinguishable. For example, professionally-generated mediacontent may be displayed in a similar format as user-generated mediacontent, and high-quality media content may displayed in a similarformat as lower-quality media content. Therefore, users may need tospend a significant amount of time going through each media listing.Thus, there is a need for an online media guidance application thatenables users to quickly browse through a set of online media listings.

Furthermore, many existing guidance applications only provide guidancefor a limited set of videos on the Internet. The limited set may,therefore, not include available online media that a user is interestedin. Some guidance applications are limited, because they only provideguidance for media content that they host. Other applications thatobtain media from third-party sites rely on partnerships with mediaproviders, which again results in a very limited media data set.Therefore, there is need for a guidance application that providesguidance for a comprehensive set of online media content.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, systems and methods are provided for identifying andobtaining information for a set of media provided on the Internet, anddisplaying a subset of the identified media in a listing. Systems andmethods are also provided that systematically narrow down a set ofonline media listings provided to a user based on criteria thatinterests the user.

In accordance with one principle of the invention, an online mediaguidance application provides selectable criteria elements (e.g.,action/adventure, comedy, ABC, Comedy Central, etc.) in a userinterface. By receiving one or more selections of the selectablecriteria elements, a set of available online videos may besystematically narrowed down to a reasonably-sized set of videos thatinterest the user. The selectable criteria elements may be organizedinto categories (e.g., genre, channels, shows). The categories may alsobe displayed in the user interface, and the corresponding selectablecriteria elements may be presented in a window near or below thecorresponding category. To keep the user interface from being cluttered,the criteria elements of one category may be visible at a given time.When a user selects a different category, the currently presented windowof criteria elements may be closed, and a new window of selectablecriteria elements corresponding to the selected category is presented.

When a user selection of a criteria element is received by the mediaguidance application, a set of videos is identified based on theselected criteria element and any previously selected criteria elements.In some embodiments, the set of identified media may include availablemedia that meet all of the selected criteria elements. In otherembodiments, the set of identified media may include available mediathat meet one or more of the selected criteria elements. The set ofmedia may be displayed in a listing, such as in a video mosaic or atextual listing. In some embodiments, each listing is displayed within aselectable frame, and upon receiving user selection of a frame, theguidance application directs the user to the website of thecorresponding media provider.

In some embodiments of the present invention, after narrowing down thenumber of listings, the displayed criteria elements may also change toreflect the new set of identified videos. For instance, when a newwindow of selectable criteria elements is presented, criteria elementsmay be displayed in the window only if selecting the criteria elementwould produce at least one video in the redefined set. In some cases, acriteria element may be displayed in the window if there are videos inthe identified set of videos that meet the criteria element and allpreviously selected criteria elements.

In accordance with another principle of the present invention, the setof online media that the guidance application provides guidance for isdetermined by crawling through a plurality of websites and obtaininginformation on media provided by each website. The obtained informationmay include metadata (e.g., title, runtime, description, etc.)corresponding to each video.

For each video obtained from the Internet, the media guidanceapplication associates video metadata with media guidance applicationdata from, for example, a media guidance application database.Associations may be determined by comparing the video metadata withguidance data in the guidance application database. A subset of theavailable online videos may be selected based on the scope narrowingmechanism described above, keyword searches, user personalization data,or editor's preference designations. The selected online videos may bedisplayed in a media listing, such as in a video mosaic or a textuallisting. Included in the listing for each video is the associatedguidance application data from the guidance application database.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

The above and other objects and advantages of the invention will beapparent upon consideration of the following detailed description, takenin conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like referencecharacters refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

FIG. 1 shows an illustrative display screen using a grid format that maybe used to provide guidance for online video and other types of media;

FIG. 2 shows an illustrative display screen using a mosaic that may beused to provide guidance for online video;

FIG. 3 shows a more detailed view of a listing in the mosaic of FIG. 2;

FIGS. 4-5 are two illustrative embodiments of a portion of the displayscreen of FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 shows an illustrative display screen for viewing and updatinguser favorites and preferences;

FIG. 7 shows a Venn diagram of available online videos used by FIGS.8A-AC, 9A, and 9B.

FIG. 8A-8C are illustrative stages of a portion of the display screen inFIG. 2 in a typical usage scenario;

FIGS. 9A and 9B are illustrative stages of a portion of the displayscreen in FIG. 2 in a typical usage scenario;

FIG. 10 shows an illustrative user equipment device in accordance withone embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 11 shows an illustrative user equipment device in accordance withone embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 12-13 show detailed views of an illustrative media guidance source;

FIG. 14 shows an illustrative flow diagram for obtaining, selecting, anddisplaying listings;

FIG. 15 shows an illustrative flow diagram for directing a user to theprovider of online media content;

FIG. 16 shows an illustrative flow diagram for obtaining, selecting, anddisplaying listings based on user-selected criteria elements;

FIG. 17 shows an illustrative flow diagram for displaying criteriaelements and identifying online media; and

FIG. 18 shows an illustrative flow diagram for choosing criteriaelements based on user-entered search terms.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The amount of media available to users in any given media deliverysystem can be substantial. Consequently, many users desire a form ofmedia guidance through an interface that allows users to efficientlynavigate media selections and easily identify media that they maydesire. An application which provides such guidance is referred toherein as an interactive media guidance application or, sometimes, amedia guidance application or a guidance application. Similarly, a mediaguidance application that provides guidance for Internet content, andpossibly other types of content, is referred to herein as an onlinemedia guidance application or online guidance application.

Various forms of interactive media guidance applications may provideguidance for media content on the Internet (e.g., streaming media,downloadable media, Webcasts, etc.). One typical type of media guidanceapplication that provides guidance for online media is an interactivetelevision program guide. Interactive television program guides(sometimes referred to as electronic program guides) are well-knownguidance applications that, among other things, allow users to navigateamong and locate many types of media content. Other than online media,such content may include conventional television programming (providedvia traditional broadcast, cable, satellite, or other means), as well aspay-per-view programs, on-demand programs (as in video-on-demand (VOD)systems), and other types of media or video content. Guidanceapplications also allow users to navigate among and locate contentrelated to the video content including, for example, video clips,articles, advertisements, chat sessions, games, etc.

With the advent of the Internet, mobile computing, and high-speedwireless networks, users are accessing media on personal computers (PCs)and other devices on which they traditionally did not, such as hand-heldcomputers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), mobile telephones, orother mobile devices. On these devices users are able to navigate amongand locate the same media available through a television. Consequently,media guidance is necessary on these devices, as well. The guidanceprovided may be for media content available only through a television,for media content available only through one or more of these devices,or for media content available both through a television and one or moreof these devices. The media guidance applications may be provided ason-line applications (i.e., provided on a web-site), or as stand-aloneapplications or clients on hand-held computers, PDAs, mobile telephones,or other mobile devices. The various devices and platforms that mayimplement media guidance applications are described in more detailbelow.

One of the functions of the media guidance application is to providemedia listings and media information to users. FIGS. 1-2 showillustrative display screens that may be used to provide media guidance,and in particular media listings. The display screens shown in FIGS. 1-2may be implemented on any suitable device or platform. While thedisplays of FIGS. 1-2 and are illustrated as full screen displays, theymay also be fully or partially overlaid over media content beingdisplayed. A user may indicate a desire to access media information byselecting a selectable option provided in a display screen (e.g., a menuoption, a listings option, an icon, a hyperlink, etc.) or pressing adedicated button (e.g., a GUIDE button) on a remote control or otheruser input interface or device. In response to the user's indication,the media guidance application may provide a display screen with mediainformation organized in one of several ways, such as by time andchannel in a grid, by time, by channel, by media type, by category(e.g., movies, sports, news, children, or other categories ofprogramming), or other predefined, user-defined, or other organizationcriteria.

FIG. 1 shows illustrative grid program listings display 100 arranged bytime and channel that also enables access to different types of mediacontent (e.g., online video) in a single display. Display 100 mayinclude grid 102 with: (1) a column of channel/media type identifiers104, where each channel/media type identifier (which is a cell in thecolumn) identifies a different channel or media type available; and (2)a row of time identifiers 106, where each time identifier (which is acell in the row) identifies a time block of programming. Grid 102 alsoincludes cells of program listings, such as program listing 108, whereeach listing provides the title of the program provided on the listing'sassociated channel and time. With a user input device, a user can selectprogram listings by moving highlight region 110. Information relating tothe program listing selected by highlight region 110 may be provided inprogram information region 112. Region 112 may include, for example, theprogram title, the program description, the time the program is provided(if applicable), the channel the program is on (if applicable), theprogram's rating, and other desired information.

In addition to providing access to linear programming provided accordingto a schedule, the media guidance application also provides access tonon-linear programming which is not provided according to a schedule.Non-linear programming may include content from different media sourcesincluding Internet content (e.g., streaming media, downloadable media,etc.) from various online sources, on-demand media content (e.g., VOD),locally stored media content (e.g., video content stored on a digitalvideo recorder (DVR), digital video disc (DVD), video cassette, compactdisc (CD), etc.), or other time-insensitive media content. On-demandcontent may include both movies and original media content provided by aparticular media provider (e.g., HBO On Demand providing “The Sopranos”and “Curb Your Enthusiasm”). HBO ON DEMAND, THE SOPRANOS, and CURB YOURENTHUSIASM are trademarks owned by the Home Box Office, Inc. Internetcontent may include web events, such as a chat session or Webcast, orcontent available on-demand as streaming media or downloadable mediathrough an Internet web site or other Internet access (e.g. FTP).

Grid 102 may provide listings for non-linear programming includingon-demand listing 114, recorded media listing 116, and Internet contentlisting 118. A display combining listings for content from differenttypes of media sources is sometimes referred to as a “mixed-media”display. The various permutations of the types of listings that may bedisplayed that are different than display 100 may be based on userselection or guidance application definition (e.g., a display of onlyrecorded and broadcast listings, only on-demand and broadcast listings,etc.). As illustrated, listings 114, 116, and 118 are shown as spanningthe entire time block displayed in grid 102 to indicate that selectionof these listings may provide access to a display dedicated to on-demandlistings, recorded listings, or Internet listings, respectively. Asshown in FIG. 1, information region 112 may display information on thetype of display that may be provided when accessing such a listing. Inother embodiments, listings for these media types may be includeddirectly in grid 102. Additional listings may be displayed in responseto the user selecting one of the navigational icons 120. (Pressing anarrow key on a user input device may affect the display in a similarmanner as selecting navigational icons 120.)

Display 100 may also include video region 122, advertisement 124, andoptions region 126. Video region 122 may allow the user to view and/orpreview programs that are currently available, will be available, orwere available to the user. The content of video region 122 maycorrespond to, or be independent from, one of the listings displayed ingrid 102. Grid displays including a video region are sometimes referredto as picture-in-guide (PIG) displays. PIG displays and theirfunctionalities are described in greater detail in Satterfield et al.U.S. Pat. No. 6,564,378, issued May 13, 2003 and Yuen et al. U.S. Pat.No. 6,239,794, issued May 29, 2001, which are hereby incorporated byreference herein in their entireties. PIG displays may be included inother media guidance application display screens of the presentinvention.

Advertisement 124 may provide an advertisement for media content that,depending on a viewer's access rights (e.g., for subscriptionprogramming), is currently available for viewing, will be available forviewing in the future, or may never become available for viewing, andmay correspond to or be unrelated to one or more of the media listingsin grid 102. Advertisement 124 may also be for products or servicesrelated or unrelated to the media content displayed in grid 102.Advertisement 124 may be selectable and provide further informationabout media content, provide information about a product or a service,enable purchasing of media content, a product, or a service, providemedia content relating to the advertisement, etc. Advertisement 124 maybe targeted based on a user's profile/preferences, monitored useractivity, the type of display provided, or on other suitable targetedadvertisement bases.

While advertisement 124 is shown as rectangular or banner shaped,advertisements may be provided in any suitable size, shape, and locationin a guidance application display. For example, advertisement 124 may beprovided as a rectangular shape that is horizontally adjacent to grid102. This is sometimes referred to as a panel advertisement. Inaddition, advertisements may be overlaid over media content or aguidance application display or embedded within a display.Advertisements may also include text, images, rotating images, videoclips, or other types of media content. Advertisements may be stored inthe user equipment with the guidance application, in a databaseconnected to the user equipment, in a remote location (includingstreaming media servers), or on other storage means or a combination ofthese locations. Providing advertisements in a media guidanceapplication is discussed in greater detail in, for example, Knudson etal., U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/347,673, filed Jan. 17, 2003,Ward, III et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,756,997, issued Jun. 29, 2004, andSchein et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,388,714, issued May 14, 2002, which arehereby incorporated by reference herein in their entireties. It will beappreciated that advertisements may be included in other media guidanceapplication display screens of the present invention.

Options region 126 may allow the user to access different types of mediacontent (e.g. Internet content), media guidance application displays,and/or media guidance application features. Options region 126 may bepart of display 100 (and other display screens of the presentinvention), or may be invoked by a user by selecting an on-screen optionor pressing a dedicated or assignable button on a user input device. Theselectable options within options region 126 may concern featuresrelated to program listings in grid 102 or may include options availablefrom a main menu display. Features related to program listings mayinclude searching for other air times or ways of receiving a program,recording a program, enabling series recording of a program, settingprogram and/or channel as a favorite, purchasing a program, or otherfeatures. Options available from a main menu display may include searchoptions, VOD options, parental control options, access to various typesof listing displays, subscribe to a premium service, edit a user'sprofile, access a browse overlay, or other options.

Another display arrangement for providing guidance is shown in FIG. 2.Display 200 provides guidance for Internet-delivered videos, and may beprovided as a display in an online media guidance application, or as adisplay in a client-server or stand-alone (e.g., set-top box based)guidance application. In some examples herein, Internet-deliveredtelevision programs are provided, although the disclosed embodiments mayprovide guidance for movies, user-generated content, or any other typesof media content. In some embodiments, display 200 is displayed a resultof user selection of listing 118 in display 100 (FIG. 1). For clarityand organization, display 200 may be split into three columns. Centercolumn 204 contains media listings arranged in mosaic 208. Left column202 allows a user to define criteria (e.g. a particular genre, show,etc.) for the videos provided in mosaic 208. Right column 206 providesrecommendations to the user. Each of these columns will be discussed inmore detail below in connection with FIGS. 2-7, 8A-8C, and 9A-9B.

Left column 202 allows a user to select videos based on criteria ofinterest. Left column 202 provides a list of selectable categories 210.The categories may include genre, channels, shows, hotlists, type (e.g.,television episode, movies, etc.), or any other such category. One ofthe categories may be in a selected state. The category may be selectedbased on user indication or may default to being selected. In theselected state, there may be a window 214 of selectable criteriaelements 212 corresponding to the selected category. The window may besituated under the name of the category to indicate which category isselected. With a user input device, a user may select a criteria element212 in window 214 (e.g., by moving highlighted region 216 to a desiredcriteria element and pressing a key or by directly clicking the desiredcriteria element). Once selected, in addition to being displayed withinwindow 214, the selected criteria element may appear at 218. That is, itmay appear below its corresponding category 210 and above window 214.This indicates to the user that the criteria element has beensuccessfully selected. When multiple criteria elements are selectedwithin the same category, each criteria element may be listed below thecategory in some order (e.g., in the order the criteria elements wereselected, in alphabetical order, etc.). A selected criteria element maybe listed below its corresponding category even when the category is notselected, as indicated by selected criteria element 222. Selectablebuttons 220 may be provided next to each selected criteria element 218and 222. Selecting button 220 may deselect the corresponding selectedcriteria element.

An alternative way for a user to select criteria elements is to manuallyenter search terms/keywords. A user may enter one or more keywords intosearch bar 224 using a user input device. Selectable button 226 may beselected to initiate a search using the entered keywords. Search bar 224may be used in conjunction with left column 202, if desired (e.g., auser may define criteria elements based on selected criteria elements incolumn 202 and keywords entered into search bar 224).

Center column 204 may display a set of videos in mosaic 208, where theset of videos is determined based on receiving user input of search bar224 and/or left column 202. Unlike the listings from FIG. 1, thelistings in display 200 are not limited to simple text (e.g., theprogram title) and icons to describe media. Rather, in display 200 thelistings may provide graphical images including cover art, still imagesfrom the media content, video clip previews, live video from the mediacontent, or other types of media that indicate to a user the mediacontent being described by the listing. Each of the graphical listingsmay also be accompanied by text to provide further information about themedia content associated with the listing. To avoid over-complicatingthe figure, a more detailed view of a listing 228 in mosaic 208 is shownin FIG. 3.

FIG. 3 illustrates one embodiment of media listing 228 in mosaic 208(FIG. 2). A video may be represented by graphical identifier 302 (e.g.,a thumbnail/screenshot of the video, a preview of the video, the videoitself, etc.). A rating 304 for the video may be overlaid on part ofgraphical identifier 302. The rating may reflect rating designationsfrom all users who have rated the video from their respective mediaguidance applications or a related/affiliate program. The visualindicator may also be accompanied by text box/overlay 306 to providefurther information about the media content. For example, textualdescription 308 may include the media title, the date the video becameavailable, and the length of the video. Also, text box may includesimple icons 310 and/or 312. Icon 310, a simple dollar sign, may bepresent if the media costs some amount of money to download or streamfrom the media provider. If icon 310 is not present, then the video isfree. Similarly, an icon such as check mark 312 may be present if thevideo is a video recommended by an editor (e.g., television or moviecritic). Otherwise, checkmark 310 may not be present.

Returning to FIG. 2, the number of total identified videos afterapplying selected or entered criteria is shown in region 230. Region 230is shown to be in left column 202 but may be displayed anywhere on userinterface 200. If more videos are identified than those currentlyvisible in mosaic 208, selectable arrows 234 and 236 may be used to viewmore available videos. Selectable arrow 234 allows a user to view a newsubset of identified videos, and selectable arrow 236 returns the userto the previously viewed subset of identified videos. The user maychange the order in which the videos are presented by selecting one ofsort links 238. The identified videos may be sorted according to thedate that the video became available (e.g. most recent first or oldestfirst), the popularity of the video (e.g. based on the total number oftimes the video has been selected by other users), in a random order, orusing any other mechanism for sorting a set of videos.

User interface 200 also allows users to indicate a desired maximum videolength and desired newness using sliders 240 and 242. Slider 240 sets amaximum video length. When slider 240 is to the far right, there is norestriction on video length. As the slider is moved to the left, onlyshorter and shorter videos may be included in the results. For example,if slider 240 is at the midpoint of the scale, only video clips that areless than thirty minutes are included in the results. If the slider isat the far left, only video clips that are less than five minutes areincluded in the results. Similarly, slider 242 sets a maximum daterange. When slider 242 is to the far right, there is no restriction howold the video may be. As the slider is moved to the left, only more andmore recent videos may be included in the resulting display.

Mosaic 208 is a two by two grid of listings 228. However, any otherarrangement may be used, such as a three by three or two by three grid.Furthermore, although each listing 228 is shown to be the same size,they may also be different sizes. Listings may be of different sizes orgraphically accentuated to indicate degrees of interest to the user, therelevance of each identified video following a search, or to emphasizecertain content, as desired by the media provider or based on userpreferences. Various systems and methods for graphically accentuatingmedia listings are discussed in, for example, Yates, U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 11/324,202, filed Dec. 29, 2005, which is herebyincorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

Each listing 228 may be a selectable frame. In one embodiment of theinvention, upon a user selection of a selectable frame, the user isdirected to the website where the corresponding video may be downloadedor streamed. The website may be displayed in an overlay or in a newscreen. In another embodiment of the invention, upon user selection oflisting 228, additional information about the video, such as thedescription of the program, may be presented to the user in an overlayor in right column 206. Based on the additional information, the usermay choose to be directed to the website where the video is provided,may add the video to a My Favorite Videos list, or may add the video toview queue 244.

View queue 244 displays a list of videos that a user has chosen to viewat a later time. Each video may be represented by a graphicalidentifier, such as a screenshot/thumbnail, a preview of the video, orthe video itself. In one embodiment of the invention, each videoidentifier 246 is selectable, which provides the user with easy accessto the videos that the user intends to watch. When a video from the viewqueue is selected, the user may be directed to the website where thevideo is provided. The video may be removed from the view queueautomatically when the video is selected, or the user may manuallyremove the video from the view queue. In another embodiment of theinvention, view queue 244 acts as a “playlist.” When the user is readyto watch a video from the view queue, the user is directed to thewebsite of the first video in the view queue.

Right column 206 may display two types of information. It may (1)present recommended videos to the user, or (2) display additionalinformation about a selected video. FIGS. 2 and 4 show rightmost column206 performing the former function of displaying recommendations to theuser. The latter function will be described in detail below inconnection with FIG. 5. Heading 250 of column 206 reads “TODAY'S TOPPICKS,” indicating that the recommendations are chosen based on the mostpopular videos for the day. Other ways to provide recommendations to theuser will be discussed in detail below in connection with FIG. 4. Therecommended videos may be presented to the user by providing a formatsimilar to listing 228, discussed above and in connection with FIG. 3.Alternatively, a recommended video may be displayed by listing the titleof the video 252, a graphical identifier for the video 254 with aratings overlay 256, and a brief program description 258 of the video.Other information may be provided for each video in column 202.

When a user initially enters the guidance application, the top picks maybe based on the most popular videos of all available videos in anycategory. As the user defines video types of interest by searching forkeywords or selecting criteria elements in left column 202, therecommended videos in right column 206 may change to reflect the user'sactions. For example, if the user chooses the “Action/Adventure”criteria element in window 214, the videos under “TODAY'S TOP PICKS” maybe changed to include the top one or more of the most popularaction/adventure videos of the day.

Recommendations provided in right column 206 may be based on criteriaother than popularity. For example, recommendations may be based on aneditor's recommendation, as shown in column 400 of FIG. 4. Heading 402reads “EDITOR'S PICKS” to reflect the way in which the recommendedvideos are chosen. The editor may be a famous movie or television criticor any other personality that a user may identify with. Consistent withone embodiment of the present invention, column 400 may provide moreinformation about each recommended video than the listings in mosaic 208(FIG. 2). For example, for each recommended video, title 404, graphicalidentifier (e.g., thumbnail/screenshot, etc.) 406 with ratings 408overlay, and brief description 410 are displayed. Rating 406 for eachvideo may be based on user-entered ratings. Other information about thevideo may include network symbol 412 (e.g. FOX) from the network thatthe video was originally broadcast, the genre (e.g. action/adventure,drama, etc.) or type 414 (e.g. television episode, movie, etc.), lengthof the video 416, and cost 418 to download or stream the video. FOX is aregistered trademark owned by FOX Broadcast Company. Column 400 ismerely illustrative, and therefore, more or less information about avideo than the above-mentioned may be displayed.

Techniques may be used for choosing recommendations for a user otherthan based on popularity or an editor's picks. The recommendations maybe based on the user's interest. The user's interest may be obtained bymonitoring user behavior on the media guidance application, by expressuser designations, or from a user profile. For example, if the user doesnot like action/adventure videos, the recommended videos may be the mostpopular two or three videos excluding action/adventure videos. If theuser typically watches videos highlighted by Roger Ebert, therecommended videos may be two or three videos that were most recentlyhighlighted by Roger Ebert.

When a user selects a video from either mosaic 208 or the recommendedvideos, right column 206 (FIG. 2) may display options to the user forthe selected video, as shown in FIG. 5. In addition, more informationabout the video may be displayed. FIG. 5 shows the result of selectingthe first video in FIG. 4 or one of the videos of mosaic 208. Inaddition to informational content about the selected video, selectableoptions 504, 506, 508, 510, 516, and 518 are presented to the user.Selectable button 504 opens a new display or overlay and directs theuser to the website where the video is provided. Selectable button 506adds the current video to view queue 244 (FIG. 2), and selectable button508 adds the video to a user's favorites list.

Options 510 provide links related to the currently displayed video.Thus, if the user enjoys the video, the user may be directed to relatedvideos. Related videos are presented to the user as keywords 512.Keywords 512 may be actors or other celebrities associated with thevideo, the network the program is on, related networks, or any otherkeywords associated with the video. Next to each keyword in the list isa number 514 that corresponds to the number of available videos relatedto the keyword. For example, in FIG. 5, Kiefer Sutherland is an actor inthe selected show, and there are 392 available videos with that actor.If the user chooses selectable link 520, mosaic 208 (FIG. 2) isreflected to include the 392 videos. Rightmost column 206 may thenrevert to providing recommendations to the user based on the selectedkeyword (FIG. 4).

Column 500 may present other options related to the selected video,including “Send to Friend” 516 and “Blog about this Video” 518 features.Feature 516 allows a user to notify a friend about the current video. Inone embodiment of the invention, the URL of the website that providesthe video may be sent to the e-mail address of a friend or may be sentto a friend using any other suitable means. In another embodiment of theinvention, the video may be added to a recommended list in the friend'suser profile, which the friend may access when he or she accesses his orher account on the media guidance application. An e-mail, or any othermethod for distributing information, may also be sent to the friend tonotify the friend that a new recommendation has been added.

Feature 518 may direct the user to a new display screen (not pictured).The display screen may allow the user to enter his or her thoughts orcomments about a video after viewing the video. These thoughts may besaved in a blog associated with the user. The blog may contain variousentries, where each entry corresponds to a particular video or relatedmedia information about the video (e.g., a particular genre, show,channel, actor, etc.). In some embodiments, by selecting option 518, anentry about the video may be automatically started. The blog may bestored in a user profile. The blog may be saved on the user's device andmay be only accessible to the user. Alternatively, the blog may be savedremotely, and the blog may be accessible to users designated as a friendor may be open to the public to read.

Other features that may be provided to a user by column 500, but are notshown to avoid cluttering the figure, are options to rate the video,visit a forum about the video, or go to a wiki-able page about thevideo. If desired, the user may be directed to a forum to discuss thevideo or a topic related to the video (e.g., the television show, thenetwork providing the video, actors in the video, etc.). The user mayalso go to a wiki-able page about the video or a topic related to thevideo to share information with other guidance application users.

A media guidance application, such as an application that providesdisplay screen 200 of FIG. 2, may be personalized based on a user'spreferences. A personalized media guidance application allows a user tocustomize displays and features to create a personalized “experience”with the media guidance application. This personalized experience may becreated by allowing a user to input these customizations and/or by themedia guidance application monitoring user activity to determine varioususer preferences. Users may access their personalized guidanceapplication by logging in or otherwise identifying themselves to theguidance application. Customization of the media guidance applicationmay be made in accordance with a user profile. The customizations mayinclude varying presentation schemes (e.g., color scheme of displays,font size of text, etc.), aspects of media content listings displayed(e.g., recommended media content, etc.), aspects of criteria elementsdisplayed (e.g., ordering of categories or criteria elements, etc.),parental control settings, and other desired customizations.

The media guidance application may allow a user to provide user profileinformation or may automatically compile user profile information. Themedia guidance application may, for example, monitor the media the useraccesses and/or other interactions the user may have with the guidanceapplication. Additionally, the media guidance application may obtain allor part of other user profiles that are related to a particular user(e.g., from other web sites on the Internet the user accesses, such aswww.tvguide.com, from other media guidance applications the useraccesses, from other interactive applications the user accesses, from ahandheld device of the user, etc.), and/or obtain information about theuser from other sources that the media guidance application may access.As a result, a user can be provided with a unified guidance applicationexperience across the user's different devices. This type of userexperience is described in greater detail below in connection with FIG.11. Additional personalized media guidance application features aredescribed in greater detail in Ellis et al., U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 11/179,410, filed Jul. 11, 2005, Boyer et al., U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 09/437,304, filed Nov. 9, 1999, and Ellis et al.,U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/105,128, filed Feb. 21, 2002, whichare hereby incorporated by reference herein in their entireties.

A user may enter preferences to customize the display provided by aguidance application, such as through display 600 in FIG. 6. The userpreferences may be saved in a user profile associated with the user.User interface 600 may display the user's favorite videos, the user'sdisplay preferences, and may allow the user to add or removepreferences. My Favorite Videos list 602 is a list of videos, where eachvideo has been marked as a favorite by the user by, for example,selecting the “Add to My Favorites” selectable button 508 (FIG. 5). Eachentry in the list may be identified by a graphical identifier 604 (e.g.screenshot/thumbnail) and textual information 606. Textual information606 may include the title of the video, the length of the video, thedate that the video became available, and any other relevantinformation. The “close” indicator 608 next to each video in list 602allows the user to remove any individual video from the list. MyFavorite Videos list 602 may be different from view queue 246 for atleast the reason that the favorites list is saved more permanently(e.g., in a user profile). The user may therefore leave the guidanceapplication and return to the application at a later time without losingthe information saved in display 600. Below favorites list 602 is “Sendto Friend” link 610. Link 610 allows the user to send the videos in theuser's favorites list to a friend. Favorites list 602 may be sent to afriend using any of the techniques described in connection with link 516in FIG. 5.

A user may enter viewing preferences in My Preferences list 612. MyPreferences list 612 may include one or more of the user's favoriteeditors 614. My Preferences list 612 may include one or more favoritetypes of videos 616. Any of the selectable criteria elements availablein left column 202 (FIG. 2) (e.g., a criteria element within genre,channels, shows, hotlists, video type, etc.) of user interface 200 maybe included in My Preferences list. Any of the preferences entered bythe user may be removed by selecting button 618 corresponding to thepreference, and preferences may be added by selecting link 620. Link 620may bring the user to a new screen (not pictured) or overlay where theuser is allowed to choose additional options to include in MyPreferences.

Link 622 may be used to set up alerts when new videos of interest to theuser are available. The user may be notified when a new video becomesavailable that meets one or more criteria elements in My Preferenceslist 612. The user may set up the alerts so that any or all of thecriteria elements are used to trigger an alert. The alerts may be ine-mail, text-message, or other suitable form for delivering the newsthat new videos of interest to the user have become available.

User interface 200 (FIG. 2) may be customized based on the preferencesentered into lists 624 and 626. List 624 excludes any videos from beingdisplayed that do not possess a property of at least one of the criteriaelements in the list. For example, in illustrative user interface 600,the user has designated that he or she only wants to view results thatare in the genre of action/adventure. The filtering effect of list 624may only occur if at least one criteria element is selected.

List 626 may exclude videos that satisfy any of the criteria elements inthe list to be presented to the user. Therefore, if list 620 is empty,then list 620 has no effect on the videos that are presented to theuser. By using either list 624 or list 626, the user has significantcontrol over what types of videos may or may not be returned in anysearches. Display 600 may also include other options for customizinguser interface 200. In some embodiments, a user may change the format oroptions of left column 202. The user may include or exclude categoriesfrom being displayed. The user may choose the order in which thecategories or criteria elements are displayed.

FIG. 7 shows illustrative Venn diagram 700 of available videos in theNews category. As shown in Venn diagram 700, 2000 videos are availablefor display to the user in the genre of news 702. Of the 2000 newsvideos, 139 videos are related to the channel, Comedy Central 704. Also,518 of the 2000 news videos are related to the channel, C-SPAN 706.There are more videos related to the two channels than those shown inthe Venn diagram, but these are not in the news genre. This is indicatedby dotted lines 710 that extend outside of news box 702. Finally, 30videos in the news genre, as indicated by box 708, are related to bothComedy Central and C-SPAN.

The example display screens shown in FIGS. 8A-8C and 9A-9B illustratetypical usage scenarios of user interface 200 and in particular, leftcolumn 202 (FIG. 2). The scenarios are described with reference to Venndiagram 700 in FIG. 7. At various stages, column 202 (FIG. 2) may takethe form of columns 800A-800C in FIGS. 8A-8C. In this scenario, column202 (FIG. 2) is used as a scope narrowing mechanism, whereby the numberof identified videos decreases with each selected criteria element.Initially, column 202 may include categories for genre, channels, shows,and hotlists. The genre category may default to being selected, andcriteria elements of the genre category are displayed. (See FIG. 2) Uponuser selection of the criteria element, “News” 802, in the genrecategory, the criteria element is listed below the genre categoryheading and above the window of selectable elements. Next to selectedcriteria element 804 is “close” button 806, which may be used todeselect the criteria element, and remove the criteria element from itsposition above window 812. Following user selection of the news genre,available online videos in the news genre are identified. The number ofidentified videos, or 2000, is displayed at 708, which is consistentwith the number of available news videos in Venn diagram 700.

If a user selection of the category, channels 810, is received, window812 of selectable elements corresponding to the genre category isclosed. Window 814, corresponding to the channels category, is presentedbelow the channels category heading. The criteria elements in window 814each have videos in the news genre. Channels that do not have videos inthe news genre are not included in window 814. When a user selection ofcriteria element 816 (Comedy Central) is received, as before, thecriteria element 818 is moved to below the category heading, and “close”button 820 is provided next to the criteria element. Following userselection of the Comedy Central channel criteria element, availableonline videos are identified that are both in the news genre and relatedto Comedy Central. The number of identified videos, or 139, is shown at822. Thus, of the 2000 videos in the news genre, only 139 of them arerelated to Comedy Central, and the scope of the video set is narrowedaccordingly. This is consistent with 704 in Venn diagram 700.

Following a selection of C-SPAN in the channels category, the remainingnumber of videos, or 30, is displayed in 824 of FIG. 8C. Thus, of the139 videos meeting both the news and Comedy Central criteria, only 30 ofthe videos are also related to C-SPAN. This number is consistent with708 in Venn diagram 700. If the show category is selected, window 814 isclosed and a new window corresponding to television shows, window 826,is presented below the shows category heading. Note that only one show,The Daily Show, is listed in the window. This indicates that all 30 ofthe videos that are news-based, related to Comedy Central, and relatedto C-SPAN are on, or at least related to, The Daily Show.

If a user indication is received to remove the Comedy Central criteriaelement (e.g. if user selection of button 820 is received), theidentified videos only need to meet the news and C-SPAN criteria, which,according to Venn diagram 700, would result in 818 videos. This may thenbe reflected on the user interface (not pictured). The criteria elementswould change accordingly, and would include shows that have availablevideos that meet both the news and C-SPAN criteria.

Column 202 (FIG. 2) may also take on the forms of 900A and 900B in FIGS.9A and 9B. In this usage scenario, the scope narrowing mechanism may attimes increase the set of identified videos with subsequent selectionsof criteria elements. The steps involved in reaching the configurationshown in FIG. 9A may be achieved by the steps discussed above inconnection with FIGS. 8A and 8B. Thus, for convenience, FIG. 8B isreproduced as FIG. 9A. In FIG. 9A, the news criteria element of thegenre category and the Comedy Central criteria element of the channelscategory have been selected, and criteria elements of the channelcategory are displayed. This results in 139 videos, as is consistentwith Venn diagram 700.

Following a selection of C-SPAN in the channels category, the identifiedvideos are expanded to include news-related videos in either ComedyCentral or C-SPAN. Accordingly, the number of identified videos, shownat 904, is increased from 139 to 627 videos. As can be seen from viewinga window 906 of selectable criteria elements in the shows category(e.g., by selecting the shows category), news-related shows from bothComedy Central and C-SPAN are listed. Note that in window 906, videosfrom each channel are separated (shows 908 are from Comedy Central andshows 910 are from C-SPAN) to show that they meet different criteriaelements in another category. In some embodiments, the criteria elementsare displayed together (e.g., alphabetically) without regard to theselected criteria elements in other categories.

If a user indication is received to remove the Comedy Central criteriaelement (e.g. if user selection of button 914 is received), the set ofvideos may be narrowed. In this case, the identified videos would needto meet the news and C-SPAN criteria, which, according to Venn diagram700, would reduce the set of videos from 627 to 518. This may then bereflected in the user interface (not pictured). The criteria elementswould change accordingly, and would include shows that have availablevideos that meet both the news and C-SPAN criteria.

Users may access media content and the media guidance application (andits display screens described above) from one or more of their userequipment devices. FIG. 10 shows a generalized embodiment ofillustrative user equipment device 1000. More specific implementationsof user equipment devices are discussed below in connection with FIG.11. User equipment device 1000 may receive media content and data viainput/output (hereinafter “I/O”) path 1002. I/O path 1002 may providemedia content (e.g., broadcast programming, on-demand programming,Internet content, and other video or audio) and data to controlcircuitry 1004, which includes processing circuitry 1006 and storage1008. Control circuitry 1004 may be used to send and receive commands,requests, and other suitable data using I/O path 1002. I/O path 1002 mayconnect control circuitry 1004 (and specifically processing circuitry1006) to one or more communications paths (described below). I/Ofunctions may be provided by one or more of these communications paths,but are shown as a single path in FIG. 10 to avoid overcomplicating thedrawing.

Control circuitry 1004 may be based on any suitable processing circuitry1006 such as processing circuitry based on one or more microprocessors,microcontrollers, digital signal processors, programmable logic devices,etc. In some embodiments, control circuitry 1004 executes instructionsfor a media guidance application stored in memory (i.e., storage 1008).In client-server based embodiments, control circuitry 1004 may includecommunications circuitry suitable for communicating with a guidanceapplication server or other networks or servers. Communicationscircuitry may include a cable modem, an integrated services digitalnetwork (ISDN) modem, a digital subscriber line (DSL) modem, a telephonemodem, or a wireless modem for communications with other equipment. Suchcommunications involve the Internet for at least obtaining online mediacontent and additionally may involve any other suitable communicationsnetworks or paths (which is described in more detail in connection withFIG. 11). In addition, communications circuitry may include circuitrythat enables peer-to-peer communication of user equipment devices, orcommunication of user equipment devices in locations remote from eachother (described in more detail below).

Memory (e.g., random-access memory, read-only memory, or any othersuitable memory), hard drives, optical drives, or any other suitablefixed or removable storage devices (e.g., DVD recorder, CD recorder,video cassette recorder, or other suitable recording device) may beprovided as storage 1008 that is part of control circuitry 1004. Storage1008 may include one or more of the above types of storage devices. Forexample, user equipment device 1000 may include a hard drive for a DVR(sometimes called a personal video recorder, or PVR) and a DVD recorderas a secondary storage device. Storage 1008 may be used to store varioustypes of media described herein and guidance application data, includingprogram information, guidance application settings, user preferences orprofile information, or other data used in operating the guidanceapplication. Nonvolatile memory may also be used (e.g., to launch aboot-up routine and other instructions).

Control circuitry 1004 may include video generating circuitry and tuningcircuitry, such as one or more analog tuners, one or more MPEG-2decoders or other digital decoding circuitry, high-definition tuners, orany other suitable tuning or video circuits or combinations of suchcircuits. Encoding circuitry (e.g., for converting over-the-air, analog,or digital signals to MPEG signals for storage) may also be provided.Control circuitry 1004 may also include scaler circuitry forupconverting and downconverting media into the preferred output formatof the user equipment 1000. Circuitry 1004 may also includedigital-to-analog converter circuitry and analog-to-digital convertercircuitry for converting between digital and analog signals. The tuningand encoding circuitry may be used by the user equipment to receive andto display, to play, or to record media content. The tuning and encodingcircuitry may also be used to receive guidance data. The circuitrydescribed herein, including for example, the tuning, video generating,encoding, decoding, scaler, and analog/digital circuitry, may beimplemented using software running on one or more general purpose orspecialized processors. Multiple tuners may be provided to handlesimultaneous tuning functions (e.g., watch and record functions,picture-in-picture (PIP) functions, multiple-tuner recording, etc.). Ifstorage 1008 is provided as a separate device from user equipment 1000,the tuning and encoding circuitry (including multiple tuners) may beassociated with storage 1008.

A user may control the control circuitry 1004 using user input interface1010. User input interface 1010 may be any suitable user interface, suchas a remote control, mouse, trackball, keypad, keyboard, touch screen,touch pad, stylus input, joystick, voice recognition interface, or otheruser input interfaces. Display 1012 may be provided as a stand-alonedevice or integrated with other elements of user equipment device 1000.Display 1012 may be one or more of a monitor, a television, a liquidcrystal display (LCD) for a mobile device, or any other suitableequipment for displaying visual images. In some embodiments, display1012 may be HDTV-capable. Speakers 1014 may be provided as integratedwith other elements of user equipment device 1000 or may be stand-aloneunits. The audio component of videos and other media content displayedon display 1012 may be played through speakers 1014. In someembodiments, the audio may be distributed to a receiver (not shown),which processes and outputs the audio via speakers 1014.

User equipment device 1000 of FIG. 10 can be implemented in system 1100of FIG. 11 as user television equipment 1102, user computer equipment1104, wireless user communications device 1106, or any other type ofuser equipment suitable for accessing media, such as a non-portablegaming machine. For simplicity, these devices may be referred to hereincollectively as user equipment or user equipment devices. User equipmentdevices, on which a media guidance application is implemented, mayfunction as a standalone device or may be part of a network of devices.Various network configurations of devices may be implemented and arediscussed in more detail below.

User television equipment 1102 may include a set-top box, an integratedreceiver decoder (IRD) for handling satellite television, a televisionset, a digital storage device, a DVD recorder, a video-cassette recorder(VCR), a local media server, or other user television equipment. One ormore of these devices may be integrated to be a single device, ifdesired. User computer equipment 1104 may include a PC, a laptop, atablet, a WebTV box, a personal computer television (PC/TV), a PC mediaserver, a PC media center, or other user computer equipment. WEBTV is atrademark owned by Microsoft Corp. Wireless user communications device1106 may include PDAs, a mobile telephone, a portable video player, aportable music player, a portable gaming machine, or other wirelessdevices.

It should be noted that with the advent of television tuner cards forPC's, WebTV, and the integration of video into other user equipmentdevices, the lines have become blurred when trying to classify a deviceas one of the above devices. In fact, each of user television equipment1102, user computer equipment 1104, and wireless user communicationsdevice 1106 may utilize at least some of the system features describedabove in connection with FIG. 10 and, as a result, include flexibilitywith respect to the type of media content available on the device. Forexample, user television equipment 1102 may be Internet-enabled allowingfor access to Internet content, while user computer equipment 1104 mayinclude a tuner allowing for access to television programming. The mediaguidance application may also have the same layout on the variousdifferent types of user equipment or may be tailored to the displaycapabilities of the user equipment. For example, on user computerequipment, the guidance application may be provided as a web siteaccessed by a web browser. In another example, the guidance applicationmay be scaled down for wireless user communications devices.

In system 1100, there is typically more than one of each type of userequipment device but only one of each is shown in FIG. 11 to avoidovercomplicating the drawing. In addition, each user may utilize morethan one type of user equipment device (e.g., a user may have atelevision set and a computer) and also more than one of each type ofuser equipment device (e.g., a user may have a PDA and a mobiletelephone and/or multiple television sets).

The user may also set various settings to maintain consistent mediaguidance application settings across in-home devices and remote devices.Settings include those described herein, as well as channel and programfavorites, programming preferences that the guidance applicationutilizes to make programming recommendations, display preferences, andother desirable guidance settings. For example, if a user sets a channelas a favorite on, for example, the web site www.tvguide.com on theirpersonal computer at their office, the same channel would appear as afavorite on the user's in-home devices (e.g., user television equipmentand user computer equipment) as well as the user's mobile devices, ifdesired. Therefore, changes made on one user equipment device can changethe guidance experience on another user equipment device, regardless ofwhether they are the same or a different type of user equipment device.In addition, the changes made may be based on settings input by a user,as well as user activity monitored by the guidance application.

The user equipment devices may be coupled to communications network1114. Namely, user television equipment 1102, user computer equipment1104, and wireless user communications device 1106 are coupled tocommunications network 1114 via communications paths 1108, 1110, and1112, respectively. Communications network 1114 include the Internet andadditionally be may be one or more other networks including, a mobilephone network, mobile device (e.g., Blackberry) network, cable network,public switched telephone network, or other types of communicationsnetwork or combinations of communications networks. BLACKBERRY is atrademark owned by Research In Motion Limited Corp. Paths 1108, 1110,and 1112 may separately or together include one or more communicationspaths, such as, a satellite path, a fiber-optic path, a cable path, apath that supports Internet communications (e.g., IPTV), free-spaceconnections (e.g., for broadcast or other wireless signals), or anyother suitable wired or wireless communications path or combination ofsuch paths. Path 1112 is drawn with dotted lines to indicate that in theexemplary embodiment shown in FIG. 11 it is a wireless path and paths1108 and 1110 are drawn as solid lines to indicate they are wired paths(although these paths may be wireless paths, if desired). Communicationswith the user equipment devices may be provided by one or more of thesecommunications paths, but are shown as a single path in FIG. 11 to avoidovercomplicating the drawing.

Although communications paths are not drawn between user equipmentdevices, these devices may communicate directly with each other viacommunication paths, such as those described above in connection withpaths 1108, 1110, and 1112, as well other short-range point-to-pointcommunication paths, such as USB cables, IEEE 1394 cables, wirelesspaths (e.g., Bluetooth, infrared, IEEE 802-11x, etc.), or othershort-range communication via wired or wireless paths. BLUETOOTH is atrademark owned by Bluetooth SIG, INC. The user equipment devices mayalso communicate with each other directly through an indirect path viacommunications network 1114.

System 1100 includes web server 1116 and media guidance data source 1118coupled to communications network 1114 via communication paths 1120 and1122, respectively. Paths 1120 and 1122 may include any of thecommunication paths described above in connection with paths 1108, 1110,and 1112. Communications with the web server 1116 and media guidancedata source 1118 may be exchanged over one or more communications paths,but are shown as a single path in FIG. 11 to avoid overcomplicating thedrawing. In addition, there may be more than one of each of web server1116 and media guidance data source 1118, but only one of each is shownin FIG. 11 to avoid overcomplicating the drawing. (The different typesof each of these sources are discussed below.) If desired, web server1116 and media guidance data source 1118 may be integrated as one sourcedevice. Although communications between sources 1116 and 1118 with userequipment devices 1102, 1104, and 1106 are shown as throughcommunications network 1114, in some embodiments, sources 1116 and 1118may communicate directly with user equipment devices 1102, 1104, and1106 via communication paths (not shown) such as those described abovein connection with paths 1108, 1110, and 1112.

Online media may be provided by web server 1116. Web server 1116 mayprovide a website of an online media provider (e.g., television networkwebsite, entertainment website, movie website, or a website thataggregates content from multiple sources). The online media provider mayhost a variety of content (e.g., full-length movies/television episodes,segments of movies/episodes, trailers/previews, interviews withactors/directors/producers, music videos, original online-only content,promotions for a network or program, etc.). The online media providermay host media of various types (e.g. streaming, downloadable, usergenerated, professionally generated, etc.). The provided online mediamay be stored locally at web server 1116 or in a remote media server. Inaddition to the media content, web server 1116 may store metadata (e.g.,title, description, URL, etc.) for each provided media.

One or more of other media sources (not shown) may also provide mediacontent to user equipment, and be connected to the communicationsnetwork by one or more paths that may include any of the communicationpaths described above in connection with paths 1108, 1110, and 1112.Other media sources may include one or more types of media distributionequipment including a television distribution facility, cable systemheadend, satellite distribution facility, programming sources (e.g.,television broadcasters, such as NBC, ABC, HBO, etc.), intermediatedistribution facilities and/or servers, on-demand media servers, andother media content providers. NBC is a trademark owned by the NationalBroadcasting Company, Inc., ABC is a trademark owned by the ABC, INC.,and HBO is a trademark owned by the Home Box Office, Inc. Other mediasources may be the originator of media content (e.g., a televisionbroadcaster, a Webcast provider, etc.) or may not be the originator ofmedia content (e.g., an on-demand media content provider, etc.). Othermedia sources may include cable sources, satellite providers, on-demandproviders, or other providers of media content. Other media sources mayalso include a remote media server used to store different types ofmedia content (including video content selected by a user), in alocation remote from any of the user equipment devices. Systems andmethods for remote storage of media content, and providing remotelystored media content to user equipment are discussed in greater detailin connection with Ellis et al., U.S. patent application Ser. No.09/332,244, filed Jun. 11, 1999, which is hereby incorporated byreference herein in its entirety.

Media guidance data source 1118 may provide media guidance data for amedia guidance application. Media guidance data source 1118 includesdata store 1124 and 1126, and may provide guidance data from either datastore. The guidance data may include program information such as aprogram title, an episode title, an episode synopsis, editorialcommentary, etc., typically found in, for example, TV Guide Magazine oron www.tvguide.com. Data stores 1124 and 1126 may be one or morerelational databases or other suitable storage mechanisms. Data stores1124 and 1126 may be local (as shown in system 1100) or in remotelocations.

Data store 1126 stores media guidance data that may or may not beavailable online. The stored media guidance data may include medialistings, media-related information (e.g., broadcast times, broadcastchannels, media titles, media descriptions, ratings information (e.g.,parental control ratings, critic's ratings, etc.), genre or categoryinformation, actor information, logo data for broadcasters' orproviders' logos, etc.), media format (e.g. MPEG), advertisementinformation (e.g. text, images, media clips, etc.), and any other typeof guidance data that is helpful for a user to navigate among and locatedesired media selections. Data store 1126 may also store identifiersinto data store 1124 that reference related media.

Media guidance data source 1118 may also include data store 1124. Datastore 1124 stores information related to the videos available on webservers 1116. Data store 1124 may store the metadata (e.g., title,description, URL, etc.) associated with each video from web servers1116, or may store information derived from the metadata. Data store1124 may also store metadata not provided from web servers 1116 (e.g.,date entered into data store 1124, popularity, user generatedtags/keywords, etc.). Data store 1124 may store identifiers into datastore 1126 to indicate additional media guidance data related to thevideos found from web servers 1116. In some embodiments, data store 1124stores the online media provided by web servers 1116 along withinformation about the media.

Media guidance application data may be provided to the user equipmentdevices using any suitable approach. In some embodiments, the guidanceapplication may be a stand-alone interactive television program guidethat receives program guide data via a data feed (e.g., a continuousfeed, trickle feed, or data in the vertical blanking interval of achannel). Program schedule data and other guidance data may be providedto the user equipment on a television channel sideband, in the verticalblanking interval of a television channel, using an in-band digitalsignal, using an out-of-band digital signal, or by any other suitabledata transmission technique. Program schedule data and other guidancedata may be provided to user equipment on multiple analog or digitaltelevision channels. Program schedule data and other guidance data maybe provided to the user equipment with any suitable frequency (e.g.,continuously, daily, a user-specified period of time, a system-specifiedperiod of time, in response to a request from user equipment, etc.). Insome approaches, guidance data from media guidance data source 1118and/or other media sources may be provided to users' equipment using aclient-server approach. For example, a guidance application clientresiding on the user's equipment may initiate sessions with source 1118to obtain guidance data when needed. Media guidance data source 1118 mayprovide user equipment devices 1102, 1104, and 1106 the media guidanceapplication itself or software updates for the media guidanceapplication.

Media guidance applications may be, for example, stand-aloneapplications implemented on user equipment devices. In otherembodiments, media guidance applications may be client-serverapplications where only the client resides on the user equipment device.For example, media guidance applications may be implemented partially asa client application on control circuitry 1011 of user equipment device1000 and partially on a remote server as a server application (e.g.,media guidance data source 1118). The guidance application displays maybe generated by the media guidance data source 1118 and transmitted tothe user equipment devices. The media guidance data source 1118 may alsotransmit data for storage on the user equipment, which then generatesthe guidance application displays based on instructions processed bycontrol circuitry.

Media guidance system 1100 is intended to illustrate a number ofapproaches, or network configurations, by which user equipment devicesand sources of media content and guidance data may communicate with eachother for the purpose of accessing media, including Internet-deliveredcontent, and providing media guidance. The present invention may beapplied in any one or a subset of these approaches, or in a systememploying other approaches for delivering media and providing mediaguidance. The following three approaches provide specific illustrationsof the generalized example of FIG. 11.

In one approach, user equipment devices may communicate with each otherwithin a home network. User equipment devices can communicate with eachother directly via short-range point-to-point communication schemesdescribe above, via indirect paths through a hub or other similar deviceprovided on a home network, or via communications network 1114. Each ofthe multiple individuals in a single home may operate different userequipment devices on the home network. As a result, it may be desirablefor various media guidance information, including media guidanceinformation for Internet-delivered content, or settings to becommunicated between the different user equipment devices. For example,it may be desirable for users to maintain consistent media guidanceapplication settings on different user equipment devices within a homenetwork, as described in greater detail in Ellis et al., U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 11/179,410, filed Jul. 11, 2005. Different types ofuser equipment devices in a home network may also communicate with eachother to transmit media content. For example, a user may transmit onlinemedia content from user computer equipment to a portable video player orportable music player.

In a second approach, users may have multiple types of user equipment bywhich they access media content, including Internet-delivered mediacontent, and obtain media guidance. For example, some users may havehome networks that are accessed by in-home and mobile devices. Users maycontrol in-home devices via a media guidance application implemented ona remote device. For example, users may access an online media guidanceapplication on a website via a personal computer at their office, or amobile device such as a PDA or web-enabled mobile telephone. The usermay set various settings (e.g., recordings, reminders, or othersettings) on the online guidance application to control the user'sin-home equipment. The online guide may control the user's equipmentdirectly, or by communicating with a media guidance application on theuser's in-home equipment. Various systems and methods for user equipmentdevices communicating, where the user equipment devices are in locationsremote from each other, is discussed in, for example, Ellis et al., U.S.patent application Ser. No. 10/927,814, filed Aug. 26, 2004, which ishereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

In a third approach, users of user equipment devices inside and outsidea home can use their media guidance application to communicate directlywith web servers 1116 or other media content sources to accessInternet-delivered and other media content. Specifically, within a home,users of user television equipment 1104 and user computer equipment 1106may access the media guidance application to navigate among and locatedesirable media content. Users may also access the media guidanceapplication outside of the home using wireless user communicationsdevices 1106 to navigate among and locate desirable media content.

It will be appreciated that while the discussion of media content hasfocused on video content, the principles of media guidance can beapplied to other types of media content, such as music, images, etc.

A more detailed view of an embodiment of media guidance data source 1118is shown in FIG. 12. In addition to data stores 1124 and 1126, mediaguidance data source 1118 may contain web crawler device 1202 and webserver 1204. Web crawler device 1202 and web server 1204 may eachinclude one or more of processing circuitry 1214 and 1208, and storage1216 and 1210. They may include any of the features and components of auser equipment device, described above in connection with FIG. 10. Theymay additionally include any circuitry or stored software (e.g.,database drivers, web crawler device applications, web serverapplications, etc.). Web crawler device 1202 and web server 1204interact with data stores 1124 and 1126 through I/O paths 1210, 1218,1220, and 1222. Web crawler device 1202 and web server 1204 communicatewith communications network 1114 through I/O paths 1206 and 1212, whichare referred to collectively as link 1122 in FIG. 11. I/O paths 1206,1210, 1212, 1218, 1220, and 1222 may be any suitable communication pathsdescribed above in connection with 1108, 1116, and 1112. Although webcrawler device 1202 and web server 1204 are shown as separate entities,their functions may be performed by a single unit.

In a typical scenario, web crawler device 1202 obtains online mediainformation (e.g., metadata) and, in some embodiments, online mediacontent originally provided from web servers 1116. That is, web crawlerdevice 1202 captures information on online media available on theInternet. In FIG. 12, a dotted line is shown between link 1206 and webserver 1116 to indicate that web crawler device 1202 directly requestsmedia and media information from web server 1116. Web crawler device1202 may then store information on the available online media in datastore 1124. To do so, web crawler device 1202 may access, retrieve, add,update, or remove data from data store 1124. Web crawler device 1202 maystore information on web servers 1116 in storage 1210. Thus, web crawlerdevice 1202 may store captured information directly in data store 1124or may first process the captured information using related data in datastore 1126 and/or storage 1210.

In a typical scenario, web server 1204 may access or retrieve data fromdata store 1124 and 1126. Web server 1204 may use retrieved data fromeither or both data stores to provide media guidance application datafor a media guidance application. Web server 1204 may store userpersonalization data (e.g., user profiles) in storage 1216 and any othersuitable information for preparing a display and/or data. Web server1204 may provide data through I/O link 1212 using any of the approachesdescribed above in connection with FIG. 11. For example, web server 1204may send raw data, processed data, or may prepare a display, dependingon the type of user equipment and/or guidance application.

System 1300 in FIG. 13 is another illustrative embodiment of mediaguidance data source 1118. FIG. 13 includes the components of FIG. 12,but also includes data manager user equipment 1302, editor userequipment 1310, and editor's pick data store 1308.

Data manager user equipment 1302 may include processing circuitry 1304and storage 1306. Data manager user equipment may be one of userequipment devices 1102, 1104, or 1106. Data manager user equipment 302may include any or all of the components of user equipment devices. InFIG. 13, data manager user equipment 1302 is local to data store 1124,and may communicate with data store 1124 through any path described inconnection with I/O paths 1108, 1116, and 1112. In some embodiments,data manager user equipment is a standard user equipment (e.g., laptop,mobile device, etc.) remote from system 1300, and a data manager maysign in to gain access through web crawler device 1202 or web server1204. Typically, there is more than one data manager user equipment insystem 1300, but only one is shown to avoid overcomplicating thedrawing.

In a typical usage scenario, a data manager may use data manager userequipment to access, retrieve, add, remove, or update entries in datastore 1124. Data managers may correct incorrect information about onlinevideos, remove videos that have become unavailable, add online mediainformation and/or online media content, add tags related to entries indata store 1126, or add any information that may be used by web crawlerdevice 1202 and web server 1204. For example, data managers may tagcertain web servers 1116 so that any listing from these tagged webservers are accentuated in the listing.

Editor's picks data store 1308 may be one or more relational databasesor other suitable storage mechanisms. Editor's picks database 1308 maycontain separate storage space for each editor. Editor's picks database1308 may contain editor preference designations for an individual onlinemedia. In addition, editor's picks database 1304 may contain hotlistsfor each editor, where a hotlist is a list of the editor's favorite orpreferred media. For each editor preference designation in editor's pickdatabase 1308, editor's picks database 1308 may store links into datastores 1124 and 1126. The links may be used by web server 1204 whengenerating displays or gathering data for media guidance applications.In some embodiments, editor's picks data store 1308 is part of storage1216 in web server 1204.

Editor user equipment 1310 may include processing circuitry 1312 andstorage 1314. Editor user equipment 1310 may include the features and/orcomponents discussed in connection with data manager user equipment1302. Editor user equipment may communicate, either remotely or locally,with editor's picks data store 1308 through any path described inconnection with I/O paths 1108, 1116, and 1112. In some embodiments,editor user equipment may have access to a portion of storage 1216 inweb server 1214, and editor preference designations may be stored instorage 1216. In a typical usage scenario, an editor may enterpreference designations in a manner similar to the way users enter mediainto a My Favorites list (see FIG. 5). Typically, there is more than oneeditor user equipment in system 1300, but only one is shown to avoidovercomplicating the drawing.

In the present invention, an online media guidance application maychoose a set of videos, and information about the chosen videos may bedisplayed to the user. Flow diagram 1400 of illustrative steps involvedin obtaining and providing media guidance data is shown in FIG. 14.Online videos from one or more online media providers (e.g. web servers1116) are identified and accessed at step 1402. Information for eachidentified video may be obtained from the online media provider. In someembodiments, a plurality of Internet sites are crawled and metadatacorresponding to available videos are scraped from the Internet sites.The Internet sites may include web sites of online media providers.Video metadata may include the video title, description, video URL,source name, source URL, genre, program type (e.g., clip, full-lengthepisode, online-only, movie trailers), screenshots/thumbnails, actors inthe video, running time, character names, video format (e.g., REAL, WMV,Flash, Quicktime, etc.), active/expire date, stream/download, DRM,price, and resolution (e.g., full screen, 320×240, etc.).

The collected metadata for each identified video may be stored (e.g., indata store 1124) at step 1404. In addition, other metadata not obtainedfrom the media provider (e.g., keywords or tags added by a data manager(e.g., from data manager user equipment 1310), user ratings, popularity,date video was found on the internet, editor preference designations,wiki-able content data, etc.) may be stored in addition to the collectedmetadata. The stored metadata may be updated continually, at fixed orvarying time intervals, or may not be updated at all. In someembodiments, the identified online video itself (e.g., the actual videofile/clip/asset) is stored as well.

At step 1406, the metadata for each of the videos may be associated withmedia guidance data, where the media guidance data may be stored in amedia guidance database. The association may be determined based oncomparing the video metadata with metadata in the media guidancedatabase (e.g., data store 1126), or the association may be added by adata manager. In some embodiments, some of the collected metadata isused for making associations with media guidance data and is notactually stored at step 1404. In still other embodiments, a degree ofrelevance may be stored instead of just an association. For instance,the metadata may be compared, and a higher degree of relevance may begiven to online videos that match a larger percentage of the metadata.

At step 1406, each video may be associated with one or more entries inthe media guidance database. For example, the metadata for a video of atelevision episode may be associated with guidance data on thetelevision show, the television episode, the actors in the show, thetelevision network, or any editors that have commented on the episode orshow. An association may be made by storing the video metadata with atag from the media guidance database. Alternatively, associations orlinks between the stored metadata and the media guidance data may besaved remotely.

A subset of the videos may be selected at step 1408. The subset may bechosen automatically based on an editor's preference designations (e.g.,from editor's pick database 1308) or based on user personalization data.User personalization data may be obtained from monitoring user behavior,from a user profile, or from express designations made by the user (seeFIG. 6). A set of the videos may also be chosen automatically based onsuch criteria as the popularity or newness of the videos (see column 206of FIG. 2).

A subset of the videos may be selected at step 1408 in response toreceiving a user command. The user may enter one or more search terms orkeywords (e.g., in search bar 224), and the subset of videos may bedetermined based on a comparison of the keywords with the storedmetadata associated with each video. The user may select particularcriteria elements (e.g., genre, show, channel, clip length, etc.) ofinterest (e.g. using column 202 of FIG. 2). The subset of videos may bethose that meet the criteria, and are determined based on examiningstored metadata.

There is metadata associated with both the media guidance data and theonline video. Therefore, the subset of videos may be determined bycomparing search terms or other criteria to either sources of metadata.In one embodiment, search terms and/or other criteria elements arecompared to the metadata of the media guidance application. Thecomparison returns relevant media guidance data. Since there areassociations linking the media guidance data to related online video, asubset of the videos may be determined. In another embodiment of theinvention, the subset of videos is determined based on a comparison ofsearch keywords and/or other criteria to the metadata of the videos.Depending on how the collected metadata is stored, the amount ofmetadata for each collected video, and how the associations are made,the two techniques may or may not return the same set of videos.

In some embodiments, the media guidance database includes more thanmedia guidance data. The media guidance database also includes media,such as video media. In this case, the subset of videos identified instep 1408 may include videos identified from the internet and/or videosstored in the media guidance database.

A display indicating each video of the subset of videos is generated atstep 1410. The display for each video in the subset includes guidanceapplication data from the guidance application database. The guidanceapplication data is determined based on the associations created in step1406. The display may also include some or all of the collected and/orgenerated video metadata (e.g., in text box 308 of FIG. 3, in column 400of FIG. 4, as keywords 512 in FIG. 5, etc.). In some embodiments, thedisplay is a mosaic, where each video in the subset is represented by atleast a graphical identifier (e.g. still image from the video). In otherembodiments, the display may be text-only. Also, the displayed medialistings may indicate the relevancy of each listing, where the relevancymay be determined based on a data manager's indication (see FIG. 13) ora degree of relevancy assessed when the listing was associated withmedia guidance data at step 1406.

In some embodiments, an online media guidance application may direct auser to media content of interest to the user. Flow diagram 1500 of FIG.15 shows illustrative steps for providing such a feature. Online mediainformation may be obtained and processed based on the strategiesdiscussed in steps 1404 to 1406 in FIG. 14. A subset of the videos maybe identified at step 1502 using any of the techniques discussed in step1408, including choosing videos based on user personalization data,editor's preference designations, user-entered search terms (e.g., insearch bar 224 in FIG. 2), or user-selected criteria elements (e.g., inleft column 202 in FIG. 2). At step 1504, a display is generated using aframe from each of the identified videos. The display may be similar todisplay screen 200 shown in FIG. 2. A user selection of a frame isreceived by the online media guidance application at step 1506. Based onthe selection, at step 1508, the guidance application directs the userto the website that provides the selected media content. The website maybe provided in an overlay, in a frame within the guidance application,or may be shown on the full screen.

In accordance with a principle of the present invention, a set of videosmay be identified, and further refined, based on user selection ofselectable criteria elements. Flow diagram 1600 of FIG. 16 illustratessuch a process. Online media information may be obtained and processedbased on the strategies discussed in steps 1404 to 1406. Criteriaelements (e.g., action/adventure, news, ABC, Comedy Central, etc.) maybe displayed to a user, such as in window 214 of FIG. 2, at step 1602.In some embodiments, the selectable criteria elements may be apredefined set of criteria elements that are always displayed. In otherembodiments, the selectable criteria elements may include only criteriaelements that meet the media identified from the Internet at step 1402.

At step 1604, the media guidance application receives user indication ofone of the selectable criteria elements. Based on the selected criteriaelement, a subset of the identified media is selected at step 1606.Since the selected criteria element is the first criterion chosen by theuser, the subset is chosen based on only this selected criteria element.However, if other selected criteria elements had already been received,the subset of videos may be chosen based on one or more of all theselected criteria elements. The subset of identified videos may bechosen based on any of the strategies discussed above in connection withstep 1408 of FIG. 14.

After a subset of videos is chosen, a display may be generatedindicating each video in the subset at step 1410, such as in mosaic 208of FIG. 2. This step may proceed by using any of the techniquesdiscussed in connection with FIG. 14. The media guidance application maythen receive a user selection of another selectable criteria element at1604. This would refine the chosen subset of videos at step 1606, andthe altered subset would be reflected in the display generated at step1410.

In some embodiments, a guidance application may display selectablecriteria elements grouped into categories. Based on user selection,videos of interest to the user may be identified and the displayedcriteria elements may be updated accordingly. The identified videos maytherefore depend not only on which criteria elements are selected, butalso on what categories have selected criteria elements. Flow chart 1700of FIG. 17 is an illustrative flow chart in accordance with a principleof the present invention. As discussed in greater detail below, flowchart 1700 may take on many embodiments.

In one embodiment of flow chart 1700, a set of identified videos dependsonly on the most recently selected criteria element. When the user firstenters the guidance application, a plurality of categories is displayedto the user at step 1702. For example, the categories may be genre,channels, shows, and hotlists (see column 202 of FIG. 2). In addition,one of the categories may default to a selected stage, where a window ofcriteria elements within the category is displayed. In some embodiments,a criteria element for a selected category is displayed only if at leastone video in the database meets the criteria element.

Upon receiving a user selection at step 1704, if the selection is acriteria element within a selected category (e.g. criteria element 212in FIG. 2), videos that meet the selected criterion are identified atstep 1706. The videos may be identified based on any of the strategiesdiscussed in connection with FIG. 14. The identified videos may bedisplayed in a mosaic, such as in display screen 200 of FIG. 2. Themedia guidance application may then receive a user selection of anothercriterion in the current category or receive a selection of a differentcategory (step 1704).

Upon receiving a user selection at step 1704, if the selection is acategory other than the currently selected category, the window ofselectable criteria elements corresponding to the currently selectedcategory is closed at step 1708. A new window is presented at step 1710,and selectable criteria elements corresponding to the newly selectedcategory are displayed within the new window. The window may be situateddirectly below the category to indicate that the window corresponds tothat category. The user interface may then receive a user selection of acriteria element in the newly selected category or receive a selectionof a different category (step 1704).

In another embodiment of flow chart 1700, the media guidance applicationmay keep track of selected criteria elements, and use each selectedcriteria element to narrow the scope of the identified videos. When theuser first enters the guidance application, a plurality of categories isdisplayed to the user at step 1702. For example, the categories may begenre, channels, shows, and hotlists (see column 202 of FIG. 2). Inaddition, one of the categories may default to a selected stage, where awindow of criteria elements within the category is displayed.

Upon receiving a user selection at step 1704, if the selection is acriteria element within the selected category, videos that meet theselected criterion and all previously selected criteria are identified(step 1706). Since selecting the criteria element adds a condition thatall identified videos must meet, selecting the criteria element narrowsthe video set and decreases the number of identified videos. For anexample, see the discussion of columns 800B and 800C of FIGS. 8B and 8C,where a set of identified videos is reduced from 139 (822 in FIG. 8B) to30 (824 in FIG. 8C). When multiple criteria elements are selected fromone or more categories, the identified videos meet the Booleanexpression:

(SC1 AND SC2 AND . . . AND newly selected criterion), where “SCX” standsfor “selected criterion X.” Alternatively, other suitable multipleselection criteria schemes may be utilized, such as an inclusiveselection of all identified videos falling within any one of a pluralityof selection criteria; the identified videos may meet the Booleanexpression: (SC1 OR SC2 OR . . . OR newly selected criterion), where“SCX” stands for “selected criterion X.”

Upon receiving a user selection at step 1704, if the selection is anindication to “close” a previously selected criteria element (e.g., byselecting button 220 of display screen 200), the criterion correspondingto the close indication is deselected (step 1712). Thus, the set ofidentified videos expands to include all videos that meet the remainingselected criteria elements, but not the deselected criteria element atstep 1714.

Upon receiving a user selection at step 1704, if the selection is acategory other than the currently selected category, the windowcorresponding to the currently selected category may be closed at step1708 (e.g., window 814 of FIG. 8B). A new window is presented (e.g.,window 826 of FIG. 8C), and selectable criteria elements correspondingto the newly selected category are displayed within the new window (step1710). The selectable criteria elements may include criteria elementsthat, if selected, would result in at least one identified video. Thatis, a selectable criteria element in the newly selected category may bedisplayed if there are available videos that meet the criteria elementand all previously selected criteria elements.

Similarly, upon user selection of a criteria element at 1704, theremaining selectable criteria elements in the category may also bereduced in conjunction with narrowing the identified videos at step1706. That is, after narrowing the set of identified videos, aselectable criteria element may be removed from the list if there are novideos in the narrowed set that also meet the selectable criteriaelement.

In another embodiment of flow chart 1700, selecting multiple criteriaelements may expand the set of identified videos. When the user firstenters the guidance application, the media guidance application maydisplay a plurality of categories at step 1702. For example, thecategories may be genre, channels, shows, and hotlists. In addition, oneof the categories may default to a selected stage, where a window ofcriteria elements within the category is displayed.

Upon receiving a user selection at step 1704, if the selection is acriteria element within the selected category, a set of videos isidentified, where each video meets (1) the selected criteria element orany of the previously selected criteria elements of the same category,and (2) at least one selected criteria element in each of the othercategories that have at least one selected criteria element (step 1706).The video set may be expanded to include videos that meet only the newlyselected criteria element and none of the previously selected criteriaelements in the category. For an example, see the discussion of columns900A and 900B of FIGS. 9A and 9C, where a set of identified videos isexpanded from 139 (902 in FIG. 9A) to 627 (904 in FIG. 9B). Thus, whenmultiple criteria elements are selected from one or more categories, theidentified videos meet the Boolean expression:

(SC1_(cat1) OR . . . OR SCN_(cat1)) AND (SC1_(cat2) OR . . . ORSCN_(cat2)) . . . , where “SCX_(catY)” represents “selected criterion Xin category Y.”

Upon receiving a user selection at step 1704, if the selection is anindication to “close” a previously selected criteria element (e.g., byselecting button 220 of display screen 200), the criterion correspondingto the close indication is deselected (step 1712). Since a subset of theidentified videos may have only met the deselected criterion in thecategory and none of the remaining selected criteria elements, thevideos in that subset are no longer identified and presented to the user(step 1714). Therefore, deselecting a criteria element may narrow thevideo set and reduce the number of identified videos.

Upon receiving a user selection at step 1704, if the selection is acategory other than the currently selected category, the windowcorresponding to the currently selected category is closed at 1708. Anew window is presented below the newly selected category, such aswindow 906 of FIG. 9B, and selectable criteria elements corresponding tothe newly selected category (e.g., 908 or 910 of FIG. 9B) may bedisplayed within the new window (step 1710). The list of selectablecriteria elements may include criteria elements that, if selected, wouldreturn at least one video. That is, a selectable criteria element in thenewly selected category may be displayed if there are videos in thedatabase that meet (1) the selectable criteria element or any otherpreviously selected criteria element in the same category, and (2) atleast one selected criteria element in each of the remaining categorieswith at least one selected element.

In another embodiment of flow chart 1700, the effect of selecting acriteria element may depend on which category the criteria element isin. For example, selecting multiple criteria elements in some categories(e.g., genre) may cause the guidance application at step 1706 toidentify videos that meet all of the selected criteria elements.Selecting multiple criteria elements in another category (e.g., channelsand shows) may cause the guidance application to identify videos thatmeet any of the selected criteria elements. Essentially, this embodimentis a combination of the two embodiments previously discussed. Thus, whenmultiple criteria elements are selected from one or more categories, theidentified videos may meet the Boolean expression:

(SC1_(cat1) OR . . . OR SCN_(cat1)) AND (SC1_(cat2) AND . . . ANDSCN_(cat2)) . . . , where “SCX_(catY)” represents “selected criterion Xin category Y.”

A media guidance application may also use keywords entered by a user todefine a set of videos. FIG. 18 shows illustrative flow diagram 1800 forproviding videos and criteria elements following reception of one ormore keywords. At step 1802, one or more keywords is received by themedia guidance application. A set of videos is identified at step 1804based on the one or more keywords. The set may be selected based on anyof the strategies described above in connection with FIG. 14. A set ofcriteria elements of a category (e.g., the selected category from step1710 of FIG. 17) may be displayed at step 1806. The displayed criteriaelements may include only those that meet the set of videos identifiedat step 1804. The user may then continue changing the set of videosbased on the strategies described in connection with flow diagram 1700.

The foregoing describes systems and methods for acquiring, categorizing,and delivering online media content using an interactive media guidanceapplication. The above described embodiments of the present inventionare presented for purposes of illustration and not of limitation.

1. A method for providing guidance for videos on the Internet,comprising: accessing a plurality of Internet sites to identify videosprovided by the Internet sites; storing metadata from the Internet sitesfor each of the identified videos; associating guidance application datafrom a guidance application database with the metadata for each of theidentified videos; generating a media display indicating to a user eachvideo of a subset of the identified videos, wherein the media displayincludes the guidance application data associated with each indicatedvideo; in response to the user selecting a first category from aplurality of scope narrowing criteria categories, displaying a firstwindow in which a first plurality of selectable criteria elements of thefirst category are displayed simultaneously with the media display,wherein: the plurality of scope narrowing criteria categories arearranged according to a first pre-selected user preference, wherein thefirst pre-selected user preference is customized by the user in advanceof the displaying of the first window; in response to the user selectinga second category from the plurality of scope narrowing criteriacategories, displaying a second window in which a second plurality ofselectable criteria elements of the second category are displayedsimultaneously with the media display, wherein: the displayed secondplurality of selectable criteria elements are limited in response to aselected criteria element of the first plurality of selectable criteriaelements; and the subset of the videos indicated in the media displayare selected according to the criteria element of the first plurality ofselectable criteria elements that is selected by the user and a criteriaelement of the second plurality of selectable criteria elements that isselected by the user; and in response to the user selecting saidcriteria element of the second plurality of selectable criteriaelements, displaying a third window in which one or more recommendedvideos from the plurality of accessed Internet sites is displayedsimultaneously with the media display, wherein: the one or morerecommended videos is selected according to a second pre-selected userpreference.
 2. The method defined in claim 1 wherein the Internet sitescomprise web sites.
 3. The method defined in claim 1 further comprisingclosing the first window of selectable criteria elements in response tothe user selecting the second of a plurality of scope narrowing criteriacategories.
 4. The method defined in claim 1 wherein: the method furthercomprises receiving a user's selection of the selectable criteriaelement of the first criteria category; and limiting the criteriaelements of the second window to criteria elements met by videos thatalso meet the criteria element of the first category selected by theuser.
 5. The method defined in claim 1 wherein the indicated videos arearranged in a video mosaic.
 6. The method defined in claim 5 wherein theindicated videos of the mosaic change as the user selects criteriaelements.
 7. The method defined in claim 5 wherein: the media displayindicates each video using a frame from each video; and the methodfurther comprises redirecting the user to the Internet site thatprovides the video of the selected frame in response to the userselecting a frame.
 8. The method defined in claim 1 further comprisingdisplaying the number of videos meeting the criteria elements selectedby the user.
 9. The method defined in claim 1 wherein the criteriacategories comprise genre, channel and video title.
 10. The methoddefined in claim 1 wherein the guidance application data of the displaycomprises program descriptions, editorial comments, media contentrelated to the videos, or links to Internet sites providing mediacontent related to the indicated videos.
 11. The method defined in claim1 wherein the display is provided by an interactive program guide.
 12. Asystem for providing guidance for videos on the Internet, comprising:communication circuitry; storage; and processing circuitry configuredto: access a plurality of Internet sites using the communicationcircuitry to identify videos provided by the Internet sites; storemetadata from the Internet sites in the storage for each of theidentified videos; associate guidance application data from a guidanceapplication database with the metadata for each of the identifiedvideos; generate a media display indicating each video of a subset ofthe identified videos, wherein the media display includes the guidanceapplication data associated with each indicated video; in response tothe user selecting a first category from a plurality of scope narrowingcriteria categories, display a first window in which a first pluralityof selectable criteria elements of the first category are displayedsimultaneously with the media display, wherein: the plurality of scopenarrowing criteria categories are arranged according to a firstpre-selected user preference, wherein the first pre-selected userpreference is customized by the user in advance of the displaying of thefirst window; in response to the user selecting a second category fromthe plurality of scope narrowing criteria categories, display a secondwindow in which a second plurality of selectable criteria elements ofthe second category are displayed simultaneously with the media display,wherein: the displayed second plurality of selectable criteria elementsare limited in response to a selected criteria element of the firstplurality of selectable criteria elements; and the subset of the videosindicated in the media display are selected according to the criteriaelement of the first plurality of selectable criteria elements that isselected by the user and a criteria element of the second plurality ofselectable criteria elements that is selected by the user; and inresponse to the user selecting said criteria element of the secondplurality of selectable criteria elements, display a third window inwhich one or more recommended videos from the plurality of accessedInternet sites is displayed simultaneously with the media display,wherein: the one or more recommended videos is selected according to asecond pre-selected user preference.
 13. The system defined in claim 12wherein the Internet sites comprise web sites.
 14. The system defined inclaim 12 further comprising closing the first window of selectablecriteria elements in response to the user selecting the second of aplurality of scope narrowing criteria categories.
 15. The system definedin claim 12 wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to:receive a user's selection of the selectable criteria element of thefirst criteria category; and limit the criteria elements of the secondwindow to criteria elements met by videos that also meet the criteriaelement of the first category selected by the user.
 16. The systemdefined in claim 12 wherein the indicated videos are arranged in a videomosaic.
 17. The system defined in claim 16 wherein the indicated videosof the mosaic change as the user selects criteria elements.
 18. Thesystem defined in claim 16 wherein: the display indicates each videousing a frame from each video; and the processing circuitry is furtherconfigured to redirect the user to the Internet site that provides thevideo of a frame in response to the user selecting the frame.
 19. Thesystem defined in claim 12 wherein the processing circuitry is furtherconfigured to display the number of videos meeting the criteria elementsselected by the user.
 20. The system defined in claim 12 wherein thecriteria categories comprise genre, channel and video title.
 21. Thesystem defined in claim 12 wherein the guidance application data of thedisplay comprises program descriptions, editorial comments, mediacontent related to the videos, or links to Internet sites providingmedia content related to the indicated videos.
 22. The system defined inclaim 12 wherein the processing circuitry is configured by instructionsof an interactive program guide.
 23. The method defined in claim 1further comprising: allowing the user to select at least two differentcriteria elements of the first plurality of selectable criteriaelements; wherein the subset of the videos indicated in the mediadisplay are selected according to the at least two different criteriaelements selected by the user.
 24. The method defined in claim 1 furthercomprising: displaying the plurality of scope narrowing criteriacategories in a list; and allowing the user to select the first andsecond categories from the list.
 25. The method of claim 1, wherein theplurality of scope narrowing criteria categories are arranged in anorder according to a profile of the user.
 26. The method of claim 1,wherein: the first and second windows are hidden from display; and thefirst and second windows are revealed as a result of the user selectionof the respective first and second categories.
 27. The system defined inclaim 12 wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to:allow the user to select at least two different criteria elements of thefirst plurality of selectable criteria elements; wherein the subset ofthe videos indicated in the media display are selected according to theat least two different criteria elements selected by the user.
 28. Thesystem defined in claim 12 wherein the processing circuitry is furtherconfigured to: display the plurality of scope narrowing criteriacategories in a list; and allow the user to select the first and secondcategories from the list.
 29. The system of claim 12, wherein theplurality of scope narrowing criteria categories are arranged in anorder according to a profile of the user.
 30. The system of claim 12,wherein: the first and second windows are hidden from display; and thefirst and second windows are revealed as a result of the user selectionof the respective first and second categories.
 31. A method forproviding guidance for videos on the Internet, comprising: accessing aplurality of Internet sites to identify videos provided by the Internetsites; storing metadata from the Internet sites for each of theidentified videos; associating guidance application data from a guidanceapplication database with the metadata for each of the identifiedvideos; generating a media display indicating to a user each video of asubset of the identified videos, wherein the media display includes theguidance application data associated with each indicated video; inresponse to the user selecting a first category from a plurality ofscope narrowing criteria categories, displaying a first window in whicha first plurality of selectable criteria elements of the first categoryare displayed simultaneously with the media display, wherein: theplurality of scope narrowing criteria categories are arranged accordingto a pre-selected user preference, wherein the pre-selected userpreference is customized by the user in advance of the displaying of thefirst window; in response to the user selecting a second category fromthe plurality of scope narrowing criteria categories, displaying asecond window in which a second plurality of selectable criteriaelements of the second category are displayed simultaneously with themedia display, wherein: the displayed second plurality of selectablecriteria elements are limited in response to a selected criteria elementof the first plurality of selectable criteria elements; and the subsetof the videos indicated in the media display are selected according tothe criteria element of the first plurality of selectable criteriaelements that is selected by the user and a criteria element of thesecond plurality of selectable criteria elements that is selected by theuser; and in response to the user selecting said criteria element of thesecond plurality of selectable criteria elements, displaying a thirdwindow in which one or more recommended videos from the plurality ofaccessed Internet sites is displayed simultaneously with the mediadisplay, wherein: the one or more recommended videos is selectedaccording to said criteria element of the first plurality of selectablecriteria elements and said criteria element of the second plurality ofselectable criteria elements.
 32. A method for providing guidance forvideos on the Internet, comprising: accessing a plurality of Internetsites to identify videos provided by the Internet sites; storingmetadata from the Internet sites for each of the identified videos;associating guidance application data from a guidance applicationdatabase with the metadata for each of the identified videos; generatinga media display indicating to a user each video of a subset of theidentified videos, wherein the media display includes the guidanceapplication data associated with each indicated video; in response tothe user selecting a first category from a plurality of scope narrowingcriteria categories, displaying a first window in which a firstplurality of selectable criteria elements of the first category aredisplayed simultaneously with the media display, wherein: the pluralityof scope narrowing criteria categories are arranged according to a firstpre-selected user preference, wherein the first pre-selected userpreference is customized by the user in advance of the displaying of thefirst window; and in response to the user selecting a second categoryfrom the plurality of scope narrowing criteria categories, displaying asecond window in which a second plurality of selectable criteriaelements of the second category are displayed simultaneously with themedia display, wherein: the displayed second plurality of selectablecriteria elements are limited in response to a selected criteria elementof the first plurality of selectable criteria elements; and the subsetof the videos indicated in the media display are selected according tothe criteria element of the first plurality of selectable criteriaelements that is selected by the user and a criteria element of thesecond plurality of selectable criteria elements that is selected by theuser, wherein: the selected subset of videos indicated in the mediadisplay is further limited by a second pre-selected user preference. 33.A method for providing guidance for videos on the Internet, comprising:accessing a plurality of Internet sites to identify videos provided bythe Internet sites; storing metadata from the Internet sites for each ofthe identified videos; associating guidance application data from aguidance application database with the metadata for each of theidentified videos; generating a media display indicating to a user eachvideo of a subset of the identified videos, wherein the media displayincludes the guidance application data associated with each indicatedvideo; in response to the user selecting a first category from aplurality of scope narrowing criteria categories, displaying a firstwindow in which a first plurality of selectable criteria elements of thefirst category are displayed simultaneously with the media display,wherein: the plurality of scope narrowing criteria categories arearranged according to a pre-selected user preference, wherein thepre-selected user preference is customized by the user in advance of thedisplaying of the first window; and in response to the user selecting asecond category from the plurality of scope narrowing criteriacategories, displaying a second window in which a second plurality ofselectable criteria elements of the second category are displayedsimultaneously with the media display, wherein: the displayed secondplurality of selectable criteria elements are limited in response to aselected criteria element of the first plurality of selectable criteriaelements; and the subset of the videos indicated in the media displayare selected according to the criteria element of the first plurality ofselectable criteria elements that is selected by the user and a criteriaelement of the second plurality of selectable criteria elements that isselected by the user, wherein: the selected subset of videos indicatedin the media display is further limited by a specified range of videolengths or a specified date range.
 34. A system for providing guidancefor videos on the Internet, comprising: communication circuitry;storage; and processing circuitry configured to: access a plurality ofInternet sites using the communication circuitry to identify videosprovided by the Internet sites; store metadata from the Internet sitesin the storage for each of the identified videos; associate guidanceapplication data from a guidance application database with the metadatafor each of the identified videos; generate a media display indicatingeach video of a subset of the identified videos, wherein the mediadisplay includes the guidance application data associated with eachindicated video; in response to the user selecting a first category froma plurality of scope narrowing criteria categories, display a firstwindow in which a first plurality of selectable criteria elements of thefirst category are displayed simultaneously with the media display,wherein: the plurality of scope narrowing criteria categories arearranged according to a pre-selected user preference, wherein thepre-selected user preference is customized by the user in advance of thedisplaying of the first window; in response to the user selecting asecond category from the plurality of scope narrowing criteriacategories, display a second window in which a second plurality ofselectable criteria elements of the second category are displayedsimultaneously with the media display, wherein: the displayed secondplurality of selectable criteria elements are limited in response to aselected criteria element of the first plurality of selectable criteriaelements; and the subset of the videos indicated in the media displayare selected according to the criteria element of the first plurality ofselectable criteria elements that is selected by the user and a criteriaelement of the second plurality of selectable criteria elements that isselected by the user; and in response to the user selecting saidcriteria element of the second plurality of selectable criteriaelements, display a third window in which one or more recommended videosfrom the plurality of accessed Internet sites is displayedsimultaneously with the media display, wherein: the one or morerecommended videos is selected according to said criteria element of thefirst plurality of selectable criteria elements and said criteriaelement of the second plurality of selectable criteria elements.
 35. Asystem for providing guidance for videos on the Internet, comprising:communication circuitry; storage; and processing circuitry configuredto: access a plurality of Internet sites using the communicationcircuitry to identify videos provided by the Internet sites; storemetadata from the Internet sites in the storage for each of theidentified videos; associate guidance application data from a guidanceapplication database with the metadata for each of the identifiedvideos; generate a media display indicating each video of a subset ofthe identified videos, wherein the media display includes the guidanceapplication data associated with each indicated video; in response tothe user selecting a first category from a plurality of scope narrowingcriteria categories, display a first window in which a first pluralityof selectable criteria elements of the first category are displayedsimultaneously with the media display, wherein: the plurality of scopenarrowing criteria categories are arranged according to a firstpre-selected user preference, wherein the first pre-selected userpreference is customized by the user in advance of the displaying of thefirst window; and in response to the user selecting a second categoryfrom the plurality of scope narrowing criteria categories, display asecond window in which a second plurality of selectable criteriaelements of the second category are displayed simultaneously with themedia display, wherein: the displayed second plurality of selectablecriteria elements are limited in response to a selected criteria elementof the first plurality of selectable criteria elements; and the subsetof the videos indicated in the media display are selected according tothe criteria element of the first plurality of selectable criteriaelements that is selected by the user and a criteria element of thesecond plurality of selectable criteria elements that is selected by theuser, wherein: the selected subset of videos indicated in the mediadisplay is further limited by a second pre-selected user preference. 36.A system for providing guidance for videos on the Internet, comprising:communication circuitry; storage; and processing circuitry configuredto: access a plurality of Internet sites using the communicationcircuitry to identify videos provided by the Internet sites; storemetadata from the Internet sites in the storage for each of theidentified videos; associate guidance application data from a guidanceapplication database with the metadata for each of the identifiedvideos; generate a media display indicating each video of a subset ofthe identified videos, wherein the media display includes the guidanceapplication data associated with each indicated video; in response tothe user selecting a first category from a plurality of scope narrowingcriteria categories, display a first window in which a first pluralityof selectable criteria elements of the first category are displayedsimultaneously with the media display, wherein: the plurality of scopenarrowing criteria categories are arranged according to a pre-selecteduser preference, wherein the pre-selected user preference is customizedby the user in advance of the displaying of the first window; and inresponse to the user selecting a second category from the plurality ofscope narrowing criteria categories, display a second window in which asecond plurality of selectable criteria elements of the second categoryare displayed simultaneously with the media display, wherein: thedisplayed second plurality of selectable criteria elements are limitedin response to a selected criteria element of the first plurality ofselectable criteria elements; and the subset of the videos indicated inthe media display are selected according to the criteria element of thefirst plurality of selectable criteria elements that is selected by theuser and a criteria element of the second plurality of selectablecriteria elements that is selected by the user, wherein: the selectedsubset of videos indicated in the media display is further limited by aspecified range of video lengths or a specified date range.